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Martian Surface Winds

On Mars the surface winds accelerate to higher speeds than those on Earth. These winds can be whipped to an extreme during the frequent Martian global dust storms. The first weather measurements made from the surface of Mars were performed by the Mars Pathfinder mission. These measurements provided some real data about the strength of Martian winds.

Sand grains from the surface are picked up by the winds and accelerated to high speeds. This leads to a gouging and chipping effect which contributes toward sand erosion of the surface by wind. The rocks found by the Mars Pathfinder lander provided plenty of evidence for sand erosion by wind. Winds are very important to the erosion of Martian rock, and makes the process a little different than on Earth.

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